Volleyball Falls in Five Sets in CCC Semis at Gordon

WENHAM, Mass. – The fourth-seeded Suffolk volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Semifinals, falling to top-seed Gordon in five sets inside the Bennett Center Thursday night. The Rams season came to an end via set scores 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25 and 15-12.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Gordon 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (20-10) | Gordon (16-13) 

SET ONE RECAP (25-14, GORDON)

• Gordon grabbed an 11-4 lead that forced Suffolk into a timeout early. 
• The Fighting Scots continued to surge ahead, 16-6, and Scott Blanchard his second timeout of the frame. 
• The huddle did not pay off for the blue-and-gold as it was unable to get a run going and the host went ahead to take the frame, 25-14. 

SET TWO RECAP (25-23, SUFFOLK)

• Down 5-1, Jasmine James took matters into her own hands, rattled off three kills in a row and combined with McKenna Keowen for a block to lock the set at 5-all. 
• The stanza would level three more times, the last coming at 13-all, before Gordon took an 18-14 edge that turned into a 22-19 gap down the stretch. 
• Three straight Fighting Scot attack errors allowed the blue-and-gold back into the thick of it and even matters at 22-22. 
• The set would lock once more at 23-all, before a Gordon service error turned on set point for the Rams and Chloe Clement would seal the set for Suffolk. 

SET THREE RECAP (25-21, GORDON)

• Suffolk jumped ahead 7-1. 
• The Fighting Scots fought back and trimmed the Rams advantage down to one, 9-8. 
• A back-and-forth battled allowed the blue-and-gold to remain in front, 17-14. 
• Gordon strung together six straight points to flip the script in its favor, 20-17. 
• The playing field was nearly the rest of the way and that slim edge the host gained proved to be enough.

SET FOUR RECAP (25-23, SUFFOLK)

• Down 19-12, Suffolk battled back a 6-1 run to chip down the deficit to two, 20-18. 
• After the Fighting Scots regained a three-point margin, the Rams rattled off a 7-2 stretch to claim the frame, 25-23.  

SET FIVE RECAP (15-12, GORDON)

• Suffolk trailed early, 5-1. 
• Blanchard brought his team in a huddle and it helped as the Rams scored four straight out of the break to equalize the set at 5-all. 
• The Fighting Scots captured an 11-7 advantage. 
• The Rams had to play catchup again and did behind a 4-1 rally to make it 12-11 Gordon.
• Suffolk hung around and kept the distance at one, 13-12, before the Fighting Scots coupled back-to-back points together to clinch the match. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Keowen registered 13 kills, nine digs, four blocks, two aces and one dig. 
• Grace Cervenka notched 12 kills and four blocks. 
• James finished with 10 kills, two digs, two blocks and one assist. 
• Clement chipped in nine kills, four digs and two blocks. 
• Harmony Johnson had a 38-assist, 10-dig double-double to go along with one block and one ace. 
• Kenzley Bell looged 23 digs, four assists, three aces and one kill.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk competed it the CCC semifinals for the first time. 
• The Rams played in a conference semi for the third time in program history, first since 2019. 
• Suffolk went to five sets in the conference semifinals for the first time. 
• The Rams went to the fifth and deciding set for the second straight postseason match and third time in postseason in program history. 
• Suffolk and Gordon competed in the conference postseason for the first time. 
• The Rams and Fighting Scots went to five sets for the third time in program history, first since Sept. 21, 2017.  
• Johnson became the first player in Suffolk volleyball history to hand out 2,000 assists in her collegiate career. She accomplished the feat with her 16th assist of the match. 
• Johnson capped off her collegiate career atop Suffolk's all-time assists list with 2,022 handouts. 
• Johnson put together her second straight double-double, 12th of her collegiate career and fifth of the season. 
• Bell wrapped up her collegiate career second on Suffolk's all-time digs list with 1,101 digs. 
• Keowen logged a personal-best four blocks. 

POST-MATCH PIC